Symbolic Interaction&The 2016 Indian Wells/Paribus Final

The surprising parallelism between Serena Williams’ career and the turmoil of America’s inequity crisis continues.Serena’s decision to forgive and reconcile was admirable but clearly costly.It earned the amazing praise and thanks from Victoria Azarenca, the victor, in a hard fought final where Serena’s psychology was the deciding factor.Once again Serena had to be a front runner and gave up the opening set in each of the two sets.In the graciousness of the moment it was almost possible to forget the ugliness of 14 years ago with the racial epithets and the angry gesturing which accompanied her appearance in that final opposite Kim Clijsters.Venus had defaulted in the scheduled semifinal and the angry and fearful of a new era tennis fans, read into it a family plot on the part of the Williams to exert an undue(black) influence on the game.Maybe “we’ve come a long way baby” but the quoted statement from the CEO of Indian Wells indicates that misogyny is still roaring.Azarenca thanked the Williams sisters and their allies for bringing the women’s game the same financial reward as the men’s.Evidently Raymond Moore,the CEO and a former player, doesn’t think that the women’s game is worth the money that the gals are garnering.and praised the men of the big four of three decades for keeping tennis alive.There must be an evolutionarily determined link between misogyny and race/class status bias.All of this with the racists and thugs gathering around Trump and the organized disrupters gathering around Sanders, reignites my concern for the safety of a successful woman candidate for the Presidency.

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I haven’t been following tennis as much as I would love to. Early … very early … I was raised with the game, and could-have-would-have-should-have … whatever. It takes two to tango and often compromises are made for the sake of peace. When rightfully admiring Serena, Wonder Woman (in many ways), let us not forget Althea Gibson … ahead of her time/opportunity? Saw her in Forest Hills, Queens, NY! Or, Evonne Goolagong (though not American). I admire their skills … and enviable courage. They trail-blazed for those magnificent Williams girls! If not obvious, this is addressing breaking down the color barrier in one more sport … in which Homo sapiens participate! Though surely much criticized for his humanitarian (if not economic) efforts in visiting Cuba, our president had the sensitivity/savviness of bringing with him Jackie Robinson’s widow and daughter … a statement of understanding the color barrier that Cuban baseball players experienced as not “allowed” to participate due to being … non-whites. Progress being made at lava-flow speed.

daedal2207: “All of this with the racists and thugs gathering around Trump and the organized disrupters gathering around Sanders reignites my concern for the safety of a successful woman candidate for the Presidency.”

Haven’t we lived with the fear that, given the opportunity, those racists would have looked towards success in jeopardizing the safety of our first non-white family in the White House? Sad that we have witnessed so much martyrdom in our lifetime. No amount of rationality will stop those full of hate, fear, and inferiority-complex to attempt to validate their pusillanimous existence. To be sure, there must be contingencies that are relied on to protect those in danger. (Even the present Republican front-runner benefitted from the secret service protection who encircled him when they thought he was in danger.) Perhaps of equal, if not greater, concern is the divisiveness with seething mob hate that is creating regional splits in our society/country. Are we to experience another civil war? This forum is much more familiar, better qualified than I to identify what mob mentality can do … actions that as individuals they might not be able or would not consider taking. Rape? Murder? Brutality of every kind? The power seekers are certainly playing with fire in stoking those very fires … which, as in their wild form, the only solution left is to let them burn out? Now, there’s a reignited concern (no pun intended!).

No disrespect intended for the race and gender pioneers of the sport.The nature of symbolic interaction is however that it is time and context relevant.The interpretation is that the sport must reflect the tensions of the present time in the rhythm of the present.(Thus Serena and Venus rather than Althea and Evonne.It is hip hop vs the grand waltz).

The cost of stoking fear and hatred with isolation continues to mount as the latest Brussels attack registers in our sensorium.